FIESTA – A chance to serve…

Members of the Youth Service Group at St. Josephs

Members of the Youth Service Group at St. Joseph's

One of the priorities of the Youth Service is to give the Redshirts a change to serve at events around the diocese. The week in Lourdes is all about ‘love through service’ and so extending this charism into other parts of life is a natural development for the whole project.

The Redshirts are invited to come along to a variety of events in the diocese throughout the year and the response is usually a generous one.

Sunday June 14th saw the annual FIESTA – a day for those with learning difficulties and their families, which this year was held in the beautiful grounds of St. Joseph’s School in Cranleigh. The Redshirts’ duties included car parking, setting up equipment, serving drinks, entertaining small children (a particular favourite) and many others.

As ever their presence was appreciated.

The whole group with Ray

The whole group with Ray

Serving drinks and food after Mass. The hats, by the way, werent just a fashion statement - It was a very hot day!

Serving drinks and food after Mass. The hats, by the way, weren't just a fashion statement - It was a very hot day!

Amusing some of the smaller children with parachute games.

Amusing some of the smaller children with parachute games.

Looking back: Redshirts ’08

2008 was a large year for the Redshirts. 53 young people, 8 leaders, 1 Ray and one Fr. Rob.


If you were there these pictures will probably bring back some good memories.

You are welcome to add your own comments and memories :)

Amazing Grace

For those of you who didn’t see the Redshirts (2004-2008) singing Amazing grace…

The idea to sing Amazing Grace came from Adam Simon, president of the Lourdes Trust. You see… the Anglican Church in Canada were holding a competition inviting parishes to record themselves singing the classic hymn, and to upload the file to YouTube. This caught on far beyond the shores of Canadian Anglicans and spread virtually worldwide.
This was our effort, recorded during the Redshirts 2004-2008 reunion at DABCEC in December 2008.